Gateways: New Beginnings Series, #4

By W.J. May

Be careful with threads, you never know what you might unravel...

Kiera and her friends have made it safely to Wren, but the fates are pulling them in different directions and the fellowship is coming apart at the seams. A careless spell sets tempers aflame and soon words are not enough. First blood has been drawn, but before things can break apart entirely, a burst of dragon fire shoots into the sky and a horde of demons pours over the walls.

The enemy is upon them, the gates are in ruins. For the first time in history, the strength of the fae might not be enough. The people of the city must rally together, but will they be able to look past their differences? Or are some chasms too deep to cross?

The trumpets are sounding, who will rise to answer the call…?

 

Be careful who you trust. 

Even the devil was once an angel.

 

NEW BEGINNINGS SERIES

• Decisions
• Pursue
• Obstacles
• Gateways
• Predestined
• Conclude

BEGINNING'S END SERIES

Beginnings

Curiosity

Scrutiny

Foresight

Disavow

Trickery

Wisdom

Decree

Influence

Prevail

Dignified

Honored

 

QUEEN'S ALPHA SERIES

Eternal

Everlasting

Unceasing

Evermore

Forever

Boundless

Prophecy

Protected

Foretelling

Revelation

Betrayal

Resolved

 

OMEGA QUEEN SERIES

Discipline

Bravery

Courage

Conquer

Strength

Validation

Approval

Blessing

Balance

Grievance

Enchanted

Gratified

 

USA Today Bestselling author, W.J. May, brings you the story of how the prophecies began--before Evie, before Katerina--starting from the very beginning. The Beginning's End Series is a prequel and continuation of the bestselling YA/NA series about love, betrayal, magic and fantasy. Welcome to W.J. May's world of paranormal, full of shifters, fae, fairy, witches, dragons, dark magic... and did I mention the vampires?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Mar 22, 2025
• ISBN: 9798227232137

W.J. May

About W.J. May Welcome to USA TODAY BESTSELLING author W.J. May's Page! SIGN UP for W.J. May's Newsletter to find out about new releases, updates, cover reveals and even freebies!   https://www.wjmaybooks.com/subscribe   Website: http://www.wjmaybooks.com Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-WJ-May-FAN-PAGE *Please feel free to connect with me and share your comments. I love connecting with my readers.* W.J. May grew up in the fruit belt of Ontario. Crazy-happy childhood, she always has had a vivid imagination and loads of energy. After her father passed away in 2008, from a six-year battle with cancer (which she still believes he won the fight against), she began to write again. A passion she'd loved for years, but realized life was too short to keep putting it off. She is a writer of Young Adult, Fantasy Fiction and where ever else her little muses take her.

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Gateways Blurb

A person holding flowers in her hands Description automatically generated

BE CAREFUL WITH THREADS, you never know what you might unravel...

Kiera and her friends have made it safely to Wren, but the fates are pulling them in different directions and the fellowship is coming apart at the seams. A careless spell sets tempers aflame and soon words are not enough. First blood has been drawn, but before things can break apart entirely, a burst of dragon fire shoots into the sky and a horde of demons pours over the walls.

The enemy is upon them, the gates are in ruins. For the first time in history, the strength of the fae might not be enough. The people of the city must rally together, but will they be able to look past their differences? Or are some chasms too deep to cross?

The trumpets are sounding, who will rise to answer the call...?

Be careful who you trust. 

Even the devil was once an angel.

A book cover with a person holding flowers Description automatically generated

Beginning’s End Series

A row of books with a person in a red dress Description automatically generated

BEGINNINGS

Curiosity

Scrutiny

Foresight

Disavow

Trickery

Wisdom

Decree

Influence

Prevail

Dignified

Honored

NEW BEGINNINGS SERIES

A group of books on a cover Description automatically generated

Decisions

Pursue

Obstacles

Gateways

Predestined

Conclude

The Queen’s Alpha Series

A group of books on a book cover Description automatically generated

Eternal

Everlasting

Unceasing

Evermore

Forever

Boundless

Prophecy

Protected

Foretelling

Revelation

Betrayal

Resolved

The Omega Queen Series

A group of books on a shelf Description automatically generated

Discipline

Bravery

Courage

Conquer

Strength

Validation

Approval

Blessing

Balance

Grievance

Enchanted

Gratified

FULL READING ORDER

A poster of a series of women Description automatically generated

Table of Contents

Find W.J. May

Gateways Blurb

Beginning’s End Series

NEW BEGINNINGS SERIES

The Queen’s Alpha Series

The Omega Queen Series

FULL READING ORDER

Chapter 1

Eden

Jesse

Evander

Chapter 2

Kiera

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Predestined BLURB:

Find W.J. May

Gateways Blurb

Beginning’s End Series

NEW BEGINNINGS SERIES

The Queen’s Alpha Series

The Omega Queen Series

FULL READING ORDER

A person in a dress holding flowers Description automatically generated

Chapter 1

Eden

Gradually, almost as if to escape the eye, the ground began to shake. It started slow, as pebbles rattling. Then it was the wagons, then the buildings themselves.

The animals balked, pulling frantically at their tethers, as the people looked around in astonishment, bracing against the quaking, before stilling with a sudden sound.

It tore jagged through the air, a single unearthly cry.

The mortals shuddered, clamping hands over their ears. The fae went simultaneously still, their lovely faces a mask of rising dread. Together, everyone turned their eyes to the north.

As a host of demons flew over the walls...

It reminded me of a hurricane.

I had not seen one myself, such storms hadn’t swept ashore in the span of my life. But my father had seen one. We lived by the ocean, of course he had seen one. I remembered him talking about it one night as a boy. Dark as a moonless night, he’d spread his arms wide and big as my arms could carry. Big enough to swallow me whole, dragging me down into the depths of the sea.

He was full of stories like that. Often, my nurse would hurry me away. That was before he did away with such attendants and set me on the back of a horse, trailing after while he crisscrossed the length of the realm. But the image stuck with me, I’d thought of it often since.

Dark as a moonless night. Big as my arms could carry.

That was what this looked like. Not a fight, but a surge. A complete overwhelm, like a swarm of locusts pouring over the stone walls to devour the city whole.

Evander.

My first thought, always.

He had frozen where he stood beside me, his dark eyes wide and staring, a smear of blood by the side of his nose where it had been knocked during our brawl. Not since our first meeting had I seen such an expression, not since I’d told him I loved him. Absolute and total shock.

The children stood not far behind him, their expressions the same.

Something shifted then, perhaps it was their faces, and I came back to myself. To this day, I don’t understand why it took me so long. I was a soldier, trained for battle.

It had just been a while since I’d heard that particular song.

Without stopping to think, I sprang from where I stood to the top of a stone railing that ran the length of the courtyard—throwing back my head and screaming the old paean, the mighty war cry. It hung alone for a moment, then a voice echoed the call, and another after that.

My people in the city were rising.

With the enemy right at their door.

A familiar buzz thrummed beneath my skin, tingling at first, then a great, rushing tide. My eyes sharpened like a fox, my ears were ringing with it. Nearly a thousand years I’d walked the map, pacing out the length and breadth of my wondrous home, never had I found anything like it.

A hymn of battle, the bards called it. That bright spark of adrenaline that set the heart racing, and made one feel something more than themselves, like they were watching from a place far away.

A hymn.

Such easy sport for poets. They who’d never swung a blade.

Crioste! I heard myself calling, voice echoing above the din.

Archers.

There was no one prepared, we had all come dressed for a festival. Yet not since the land was grassy meadows and the deep rivers nothing but forest streams, had my people gone anywhere without a blade. Many were already raising swords, dividing in the streets and gathering into a loose formation. A figure appeared from nowhere, thrusting a bow into my hands. A quiver was beside it, flung carelessly across my back. I fitted an arrow without thinking, drawing the feathers to my chin.

In my periphery, there were flicks of movement, the swift alighting of my kinsmen as they leapt from the crowd and found perches same as me. Many had already selected a target and taken aim, trailing its progress with silent intensity, waiting for the moment it would come into reach. They would not need to wait long. The creatures were surging towards us like the rush of a tide.

The mortals were frozen where they stood, mouths hanging ajar.

Eden.

I almost startled when he said my name, glancing quickly to the side as Evander leapt to the rail beside me. Not until that moment did I realize how strange this must be for him. A thousand times he’d seen such creatures, but never from such a perspective. When those roving spirits came up from the depths, they were never pointed towards him. He would have witnessed such things as a passing observer. He had never stood behind broken gates, braced against the coming hive.

There was much to say, but we said none of it. A kind of understanding passed between us as his lovely eyes touched mine.

A sudden gust of wind swept down upon the city; something the mortals might think had come from the mountains, but those of us who’d lived longer knew better. It was the chill of death, like standing before a great, frozen expanse, rising from the creatures themselves. It filled my lungs and curdled with a known hate. The demons were getting closer, blurring before my eyes.

Stay close to me, I heard myself saying, never taking my eyes from the horde. It was wasted words, I already knew he would. My fingers tightened on the arrow. Here they come.

Jesse

It was so loud.

My hands flew over my ears the moment they started screaming, flooding over the walls like someone had poured a basin of shadow straight from the clouds. The sight alone was enough, but the sound was nearly incapacitating, a thousand silver daggers stabbing into my ears. My breath caught and I stood there without moving, watched without a shred of understanding. What had just happened? Where had they come from? My eyes were burning, my hair was standing on end.

Weavers.

The word came unprompted, echoed in Eden’s musical voice. I’d asked him on the way to the tower what they were, and he’d likened them to spirits. Without mind, without mass. A wave of ravening evil sprung from the darkest places of the world to wreak hell on whatever lay beyond.

He’d also mentioned their teeth.

Like he’d heard me thinking, the fae tore suddenly from my side, appearing a moment later on a banister of grey stone. His eyes flashed in the fading sunlight, fixed upon the coming horde, then he threw back his head with a cry I didn’t think possible to come from a single man.

A second later, I realized it hadn’t. The call might have started with Eden, but it was echoed immediately by a hundred others. The fae were already moving, pulling themselves from the crowd.

I stared at the back of his head, my feet rooted to the courtyard, my hand still aching from where I’d struck at his face. He stood there like some kind of banner, sounding the rallying cry.

My only thought was to pull him down. Get down and hide! Do not present a target! It was only then I understood what the fae had been telling me for the better part of a year:

The rest of us were like little kids. And he’d been doing this for a long time.

Kiera, the word whispered past my lips.

She was standing a short ways off, her lovely face drained of all color, the tips of her fingers pressed to her mouth. There was a kind of lurching inside me, like someone had reached inside and wedged a great hook. I wanted to cover her eyes. I wanted someone to cover my own.

But she turned at that moment and caught my gaze, and there was something steadier than what I expected. Those eyes I knew so well had lightened in color, almost to a glow.

The words passed between us like she’d whispered in my ear.

Protect the city.

Looking back on it now, this was no surprise. If I’d been skilled as her with a quill, I might have written it. What surprised me instead, was my own reaction. Not to surge forward, not to fight.

I wished to protect something as well. But it was narrowed, more specific.

A single person I could not live without.

My prayers for the city.

I took a step just as the ground lurched beneath me, toppling my balance and spilling me onto my hands. My head whipped around just as a building across the river collapsed like a child’s plaything, crumbling to pieces in a sudden smashing of stone. I stared dumbly from the ground, the rough earth scraping beneath my palms, unable to imagine what could have done such a thing.

A second later, I saw for myself.

Seven hells!

It was the demons I’d been expecting. That army of wraiths pouring like shadows over the walls. In all my years, I’d never understand why I didn’t see the rest of them coming. Perhaps it was some quirk of the mind, trying to protect itself. How else could someone miss them, that army of nightmares? Scaled and clawed, fanged and reptilian. Each the size of my childhood house.

I sucked in a rasping breath, a sudden chill seeping into my bones. No sooner had the monsters appeared, than a glacial wind came with them, sweeping down from the mountains. I pressed a hand to my chest and scrambled upwards, a familiar voice ringing in my ears.

Niat!

Fire.

I’d known Eden long enough to understand the word in fae. It was only then, I realized all the time I’d been frozen there, he’d been giving orders. Upon his commands, the fae were dividing into two groups; most of them stayed on the rooftops, showering down arrows like a silver rain; the others had turned their attention to the mortals, each of them stricken and palsied as me. With quick hands, they drove them off the streets, ushered them into stables and buildings. Anything to remove them from sight, anything with a locked door. In theory, it was a good strategy.

But some of the creatures breathed fire.

There was a sharp pain in my shoulder, and I let out a yelp as something latched onto me, sinking in its spiny claws before I got the notion to push it away. It looked like a sea urchin, or a tangle of brush that was already starting to kindle. I wrestled a little, but by the time I found my breath and shouted in earnest, it had already begun to smolder, melding itself to the contours of my skin.

Devils alive!

I shouted again, a sharp burst that came from deep in my belly. There was a searing pain as the creature moved upwards, raking those flaming claws along my neck. So great was my panic, I couldn’t immediately see past it. My hair was smoking around the edges, my eyes already starting to sting. There was no way to force it off, no way to grab hold of it. Every time I tried, it would twitch its quills and I’d need to let go before it severed my fingers. Another few inches, and my head swam.

Help—

An arrow flew past my nose, close enough the feathers brushed my face. There was a garbled screech as it buried in the creature, finding soft flesh where I thought there had been only spines. By the time I lifted my head, Eden had already turned back to the surge, but Evander was still looking. Our eyes met for a split second, and I saw his lips moving, too far away to be heard.

Get up!

I let out a gasping breath and staggered backwards, cupping the side of my neck. My fingers streamed over, but nothing vital had been struck. There was a blistering screech, and I watched as a weaver flew over the river, cratering into the chest of a man who’d been watching from the other side. He’d been a farmer, leading a herd of goats through the town square. Pieces of his tunic were shredded like ribbons on the cobblestones. I could hear a chorus of tiny bells, clanging like mad.

How the hells is this happening...?

I staggered another step towards a smoldering scent-shop, dragging my eyes across the frenzied square. I kept waiting for things to slow down, to find my sea-legs and balance. I kept waiting for my friends to appear beside me—to band together and fight the monsters back like we’d done a hundred times before. But it was nothing like those times. This wasn’t a fight, it was a battle.

And a battle is quick-moving chaos, lost in an unending sprawl.

I don’t see Kiera.

The thought